Turkey ends 80-hour-long coronavirus curfew

By Hamdi Celikbas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey ended a nationwide curfew early Monday aimed at helping stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The curfew ended at 05.00 a.m. (0200GMT) after 80 hours.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in mid-December last year that a curfew would be in effect from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4 in an effort to keep the COVID-19 outbreak under control.

Curfew measures are expected to continue on weekends until further notice.

Turkey has so far reported over 2.24 million cases and nearly 21,500 deaths from the virus, while the country's tally of recoveries exceeds 2.1 million.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas